


Then Comes Marriage

by sariahsue



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:09:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23298319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sariahsue/pseuds/sariahsue
Summary: Adrien asks a very important question.  No, not... not that one?
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Sabine Cheng/Tom Dupain
Comments: 18
Kudos: 175
Collections: THEME:  Parents-in-Law





	Then Comes Marriage

Tom was clapping the last of the flour from his hands and turning off the ovens when he heard the knock at the door.

"Could you get that?" Sabine asked as she walked past, her arms full of cash register drawers. "It's probably Adrien."

"He's been coming here a lot. I wonder why." He wiggled his eyebrows at his wife, who just smiled.

They both knew why Adrien had come by almost every day for the past two weeks. They knew why he smiled at Marinette the way he did, and why his eyes softened as he stared at her when he thought no one was looking. What they didn't know was why it had started so suddenly. Something had changed between the two of them.

Tom removed his apron and flung it over one shoulder as he answered the door.

"Hello, Mr. Dupain," Adrien said. The skinny young man smiled up at him and waved, his other arm tucked into his side and his shoulders hunched, like he was nervous about something.

"I thought I'd finally convinced you to call me Tom."

"Oh, uh... yes, sir. Tom." Adrien fidgeted on the front step until Tom backed away from the door and held it open. Something was up.

"Marinette's not hear quiet yet, dear," Sabine said, coming up beside him. "She's still out with Alya."

"Oh, I know." He glanced between them, then rubbed the back of his neck anxiously. "I actually had something I wanted to ask you."

Tom and Sabine looked at each other. Well, they were only sixteen. Too young to be asking for Marinette's hand, but Tom supposed he'd give his blessing anyway. Like he could stop Marinette if that's what she really wanted.

"Would it- would it be okay with you both if I asked her out?"

Sabine was the one who started laughing first. "You don't have to ask for permission."

"Unless you're asking her to marry you," Tom added.

Adrien's eyes unfocused, seeing something far away that made him smile, before snapping back to stiff attention. "N-no marriage proposals today."

_So tomorrow then?_ Tom thought. The boy was jumpy enough, so he kept that comment to himself.

Marinette wasn't due home for another ten minutes, so Adrien put his nervous energy into helping them close up. Instead of wiping the counter, he scoured it with tight circles. When he was asked to check to make sure all the ovens were off and the leftovers marked as day-old, he checked everything twice. And every time he passed the door or windows, he craned his neck to see if she was about to come in, bouncing on his toes.

After about five minutes of this, Sabine stopped him to brush some flour off his shoulder and get him to slow down. "She's going to say yes. Don't look so worried."

"You think so?"

Sabine patted his cheek before turning back to sweep the floor some more.

Adrien shuffled out of the way of the broom, muttering to himself. "Will you go out with me, Marinette?" "Mari, I want to take you on a date, if that's okay?" "I would love if it maybe you wanted-"

When Marinette finally sashayed through the door, Adrien's mumbling came to a stuttering halt. _The look_ was back, the tender one that made Tom so happy for his daughter.

"Hi, Adrien!" As quick as a lightning strike, she hugged his arm and backed away, still not sure of what lines she was allowed to cross.

Tom huffed loudly. "No hello for your dear parents? Or were you just distracted by other-"

"Hello to you too, Papa." Marinette hid her blush by giving her mother a hug.

Over Marinette's head, Sabine glared up at him. _Don't push them and mess this up,_ she seemed to say. _I want them to start dating too much._

Tom knew how to take a hint. He also knew how to give a couple of teenagers some privacy. "Well, my dear, we've got a couple more day-old loaves to mark. We should check it out."

"No," Adrien said. "I finished-"

The look Tom gave him killed the sentence.

"Oh. I mean, yeah, I think I missed a few." Adrien's eyes found Sabine, then the door to the kitchen, then the floor, and after they'd run out of easier places, they rested on Marinette. He was never going to get anywhere avoiding her like that, but before Tom could "accidentally" bump them into each other, Sabine's small hand found his and lead him into the kitchen. The door snapped shut behind them.

Sabine's shoes squeaked on the tile floor as she listened at the door. She didn't leave much room for him, so Tom did the next best thing: walked right into his wife's space and pinned her entire tiny body against the door. The sharp elbow in his stomach barely tickled.

"Oh, sorry," Tom said, pushing his ear to the door. "Didn't see you down there."

"Will you get off?" she hissed. "We're going to miss it!" She wriggled out from under him, and Tom moved to the side just in time to hear more of Adrien's stuttering pleasantries. He was still asking about her day? Did she have fun with Alya?

Come on! That was no way to ask a girl out. Tom didn't want to intervene, but he would if he had to.

Adrien continued to stumble over simple questions and mix up words. "Glad you hear fun had you." And "How was the walked?" And a desperate, "So is there anything else you want to talk about? Anything at all?"

"He's so nervous," Sabine whispered. "I hope he's not feeling too embarrassed."

"Well…"

"I don't want to hear the rest of that sentence," Sabine hissed.

Ah, so nice to be married to someone who knew him well enough to tell just from his tone not to trust his intentions. He grinned impishly. "We can always go back in there and do something even more embarrassing. Take the pressure off him, you know."

"Tom, please don't do that."

Adrien's next sentence was softer and muffled, but it silenced them both. "There was actually something important I wanted to ask you."

Marinette's voice was even lower, barely audible through the door. "My parents are probably listening."

Adrien chuckled. "That's fine. They already know."

Marinette didn't answer, and Tom could imagine her questioning eyebrow as she waited for Adrien to ask his question.

Tom and Sabine waited a little less patiently, pushing against the door until it squeaked a little, breaths held.

Adrien's next words came out in rush. "Date, will you Mari me?"

"WHAT?" Marinette shrieked.

"Oh, no," Sabine moaned.

"So much for not proposing today, though I still say they're a little young."

"Tom!"

In the other room, Adrien was not doing a good job of fixing his slip-up. "No, I mean- Mari, date me! That sounds terrible. Let me start over. Please, will you go on a marriage with me! WAIT, NO!"

Sabine dropped her head against the door in sympathetic defeat. "Poor dears."

"No, we can save this!"

"Don't you dare!"

Tom pulled open the door. His shirt caught a little as his wife tried to reel him back in, but it was too late. It was drastic action time.

"Tom!"

He wrapped an arm around each teenager, lifting them up easily. "Of course she will!"

"PAPA!"

They both spluttered as he kissed them each on the head. "We'll be the happiest in-laws ever. Won't we, dear?"

Two pairs of legs flailed as they searched in vain for the ground, while Tom watched their faces carefully. They both were bright red, but they'd been like that when he'd open the door. And neither could look at him. Instead, they shot incredulous looks at each other. (Though Marinette's had a tinge of "I apologize for being related to this person. Please forgive me.") That was a good sign. Mission accomplished.

"Well then, what's your answer, Marinette?" Tom asked.

"Y-yes," she squeaked. "I'd love to."

Tom didn't need to pretend to be embarrassing anymore. He swung them around in a circle in joy. Marinette had wanted this for so long. And Adrien was a nice kid who deserved to be happy.

When he finally put them down, Sabine wasted no time in dragging back to the kitchen and banging the door behind them. "Are you done now?"

"Maybe."

"Oh, let them have their peace."

She left him by the door, off to clean utensils or take stock of ingredients or inventory or whatever it was they should have been doing at the moment. Tom hung back, listening again.

"Sorry my dad is such a goof."

"I'm just glad I'm not the only one," Adrien said. "Sorry I messed up."

"It's fine."

Two soft footsteps. If Tom knew his daughter, which he liked to think that he did, she had probably just stepped forward to grab Adrien's hand.

"It's fine," she said. "I'm happy you asked. And yes, I'd love to."

Adrien's laugh was half happiness and half relieved sigh. "Yes to which one? I kinda asked you two things. W-wait, no. Yes to the first question? I mean, no, the second one." He groaned.

Tom felt he'd interfered enough for one day. Marinette could untangle that mess of Adrien's words on her own. He backed away, but not before he heard her quiet reply.

"Both?"


End file.
